Different types of cell culture and tissue engineering devices have been developed as are described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,688,687, 5,792,603, 5,846,828, 5,994,129, 6,060,306, 6,048,721, 6,121,042, 6,228,635 and 6,238,908. The major drawbacks of these devices are the fact that they have limited functional capabilities and are useful only for the culture and expansion of cells. The devices are not designed for the production of autologous tissue implants. Furthermore, these devices are complex to use, bulky and thus not very portable, and still require user intervention in many aspects of the cell culturing process.
The Applicant has developed a fully automated tissue engineering system described in International Patent Application No. WO 03/0872292 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety). The system is a user-friendly and fully automated system for facilitating different physiological cellular functions and/or the generation of one or more tissue constructs from cell and/or tissue sources.